Last pilgrims file past pope's body before funeral

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2005

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — The last wave in a huge tide of pilgrims that engulfed Rome this week filed into the Vatican to pay homage to Pope John Paul II as world leaders arrived for his state funeral.

As night fell, police closed Saint Peter's Square, leaving a few hundred people in line to enter the floodlit basilica where the pope's body lay in state, while workers began to prepare the esplanade for Friday's ceremony.

Beyond the square -- a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture -- pilgrims laid out sleeping bags and blankets in hope of being first in when the crash barriers are removed at 6.00 am (0400 GMT), four hours before the open-air requiem mass begins.

"There is an amazing atmosphere here, it's fantastic. We're sleeping on the ground, but we're...